Understandings
by Angel Paradine
Summary: Sydney’s world has been turned upside down again and she is now dealing with the DSR, and their strange belief that she is the one that Rambaldi wrote about in his manuscript. Written BEFORE The "Prophecy" aired. PLEASE R&R!


Title: Understandings  
  
Author: Paradine Tigress  
  
E-Mail Addy: Paradine_Tigress@hotmail.com  
  
Website: None…yet.  
  
Rating: PG-13 due to language but other than that there's nothing else.  
  
Category: T.V. Shows, Alias, General, Action/Adventure  
  
Characters: Sydney, Vaughn, Jack Bristow, Weiss, Devlin, and more in later chapters  
  
Pairings: S/V pairing but not the usual romance thing. I am trying to keep it realistic none of that romance stuff you find in some other ficcys  
  
Warnings: Some spoilers for Alias if you haven't seen the episodes all the way up to the "Prophecy" Do not read if you don't want it spoiled.  
  
Summary: Sydney's world has been turned upside down again and she is now dealing with the DSR, and their strange belief that she is the one that Rambaldi wrote about in his manuscript. They are calling it the "Prophecy", but is it true? Is she really the one that will bring destruction to the world, or is it someone else? This was written BEFORE the "Prophecy" aired so things may be inaccurate but I think you will find them EXTREMELY accurate if you are piecing the puzzle together. PLEASE R&R! I would REALLY like Feedback! Tell me if you like it or if you hate it.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the rights to the show. I do this, because I have fun doing it. I do wish I owned the characters and had the rights to this stuff. I love the plot so far and wish I had come up with it first. So please do not sue me I am poor and I only do this for fun.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Joey's Pizza?"  
  
"Wrong number."  
  
The line went dead. Vaughn hung up the phone haphazardly and rolled out of bed. It didn't matter. He hadn't been sleeping well lately anyway. He ran a hand through his hair, and pulled on his pants quickly, buttoning them, and selected a shirt off the floor to go with it, hoping it didn't look too bad. It was only a ghost of a thought in the back of his mind though. Sydney needed him. He grabbed his keys off the nightstand and slipped on his shoes as he made his way for the door, with hardly a glance back.  
  
* * *  
  
Sydney closed the door to the warehouse behind her. She had already been up; actually she had just gotten out of the DSR'S pesky hands. She hated doing this to Vaughn. It was 3:30 in the morning, any normal person would be in their bed asleep, but she wasn't normal was she? Her mood could have been worse, but she was trying her best to keep it in check. She sat down on top of the table and pulled her knees up to her like she always did, and rested her forehead against them. She wanted answers and she wanted them fast. She wasn't sure how much more of this she could take.  
  
  
  
* * *  
  
Vaughn pulled the keys out of the ignition and locked the door as he tried to keep himself from running into the warehouse straight to Sydney's aide. It was taking every shred of self-preservation he had just to keep his pace steady as he entered their "room." He spotted Sydney sitting on the table, her face hidden by her hair and arms.  
  
"What's wrong Syd?" He asked as he approached her.  
  
She looked up at him a deep-rooted pain in her eyes. He almost wanted to look away, but she needed him. "I can't live like this Vaughn." She began. "I need answers. What I've gotten so far isn't good enough. Hell I've been poked and prodded for the last twenty-four hours. I think I deserve to know what's going on."  
  
"I'm not exactly sure." He replied. He wished he knew. He couldn't understand why the DSR was so damn afraid of Sydney Bristow. Granted, he knew she could kick his ass, but still…this was Sydney they were talking about, not some psycho. She was up pacing the length of the room in front of the wall. "They think you are the one who will lead us all to destruction."  
  
  
  
She faltered a step in her pacing and his breath caught. He hadn't meant it that way, she knew it, but it still hurt him to admit that was what they had said. He didn't like all the stuff that was going on right now with the DSR'S witch-hunt but he didn't have any way to stop it. They were interfering with a very dangerous situation. All Vaughn could do was hope that they didn't find any reason to detain Sydney. If they did both hers and Jack's cover would be blown.  
  
  
  
"Why me?" She burst out making him flinch a little. "Why not someone else? Why do they think they have to poke and prod me? I swear! It could be anybody. Hell it could even be my mother in that picture, not me. Just because it looks like me does not mean it is me. Did they ever think that maybe the "prophecy" was already fulfilled? Did they ever once think it was someone else?"  
  
  
  
"Syd I think with all the coincidences surrounding the Rambaldi prophecy that the prophecy itself could most likely be true. The death of the clockmaker you were with, the exact timing of everything that has happened so far, everything is pointing to someone and they think that someone is you."  
  
  
  
"How do they know? They are going off a manuscript that is at least five hundred years old or more. How accurate can that be? There are other possibilities. They don't have to treat me like some damn lab rat!" She yelled. Vaughn winced slightly, but the look of sorrow on his face proved his sincerity. "I am not some stupid pushover they feel they can take advantage of. I want to know the truth. That's the reason why I even agreed to these tests. I am tired of their prodding and poking. I am still a person!" She yelled furiously, bringing a clenched fist up to punch the cement wall, it was stopped before it connected by a worried Agent Vaughn.  
  
  
  
"Syd…" She was crying, desperately seeking a release of her pent up emotions. This wasn't any easier on him either. He didn't like having to stand back and watch her suffer as his superiors did namely Haladki. She meant more to him than that, she deserved more. If not for her they wouldn't even have the manuscript.  
  
  
  
She sank to the cold cement floor of the warehouse trying to choke down her sobs. Her world was crashing down around her and there was nothing she could do but answer their questions, vainly hoping that one of those pencil-pushing pricks would have some "real" insight as to what the problem was or maybe even a little sympathy. The DSR was a pack of starving wolves jumping on the first prey they came in contact with, savagely hunting them down, and she just happened to be it.  
  
  
  
* * *  
  
  
  
1 He couldn't just sit there and watch her cry. He couldn't stand how they were treating her, as if she were less than human, just a means to an end. She needed him. Now. She needed to know that she wasn't the horrible person they were making her out to be, that even though Haladki and the rest of those pricks were out on a witch-hunt, she wasn't the witch.  
  
* * *  
  
The cold warehouse seemed to fit her mood perfectly. Everything in her life was falling apart. All she could feel was an increasing void of cruel emotions. She was completely devoid of anything that made her feel human. The chill from the cement seemed to soak her every pore, making her feel even more detached and vulnerable. There was no question about it; she was at the breaking point. She felt an arm wrap around her shoulders giving her strength, comfort and warmth. He had always been there for her no matter what. He was always a constant, the one thing she could always depend on, the only person she could trust. She buried her heads in his chest and let herself cry out all the stress, hurt and hopelessness, as she had several times before, but none of those times was she at the breaking point she was now.  
  
  
  
Vaughn held her as she buried her head in his chest and cried. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, one hand running his fingers through her hair, while the other held her gently, comfortingly. There was nothing in protocol about sympathizing with an agent's needs, but he knew as soon as he touched her he had broken over half a dozen other codes. Screw protocol. He thought. Syd needs me.  
  
  
  
* * *  
  
  
  
When she finally composed herself enough to stop crying, she looked up at her handler, into a set of beautiful green eyes and couldn't help but smile a little. His face was washed with emotions, but the one she read most prominently was the worry in his eyes, the worry for her. It was the first time that she had actually really looked at him since he came in. He looked like a wreck. He'd obviously been getting less sleep than she had.  
  
"Vaughn I…" He put a finger to her lips silencing her.  
  
"It's ok Syd, really I understand." He tried to keep the hurt from his voice as much as possible. He couldn't start to lose it, not yet. He needed to be able to think clearly. She still needed him, as he did her.  
  
  
  
"So what's the plan?" She asked quietly.  
  
  
  
"There is no plan, not yet anyway. As much as I despise those people with the DSR, there is nothing I can do for you just yet. We will just have to see what happens when the test results come in."  
  
  
  
She nodded silently as she dried her eyes with the cuff of her sleeve, trying to remove the smeared mascara. "In the meantime try to relax, ok? Go do what you would normally do. We don't want your cover at SD-6 to be blown and we don't want Will and Francie to get suspicious of anything. Hopefully the test results won't show anything out of the ordinary. Alright?" She nodded again silently.  
  
"Thanks Vaughn." She told him quietly, as she got to her feet. He nodded as she turned to walk away, pausing a second to look over her shoulder back at him.  
  
"You're welcome." He whispered to the walls around him, as he watched her retreating figure. "You're welcome."  
  
* * * 


End file.
